Healthy Living : Tomatoes and You

     Anyone can tell you to eat right, that you should choose better ingredients for your meals, or that you should start a new eating routine and forget about your old one. Well they are right, you only have been blessed with one body! The easiest and best way to instill this lifestyle EASILY into your life is to cultivate your own foods. The majority of produce from your local markets can be grown in your specific region. All you need is good soil content, a steady flow of water, and the patience to do said deeds.

(Organically Grown Bloody Butcher Tomato)

¤ First, we will start off talking about the benefits of growing tomatoes! ¤

     Tomatoes are known all over the world as been a highly rich antioxidant fruit, it's also known to lower one's cholesterol and can help battle Prostate and/or Breast Cancer. I want to live a long and healthy life and I'm fairly certain that you would too. The rich supply of antioxidants provided by the tomato can help postmenopausal women with their bone health. And as been used in research to help reduce risk of some neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease.

 **Most people with gastrointestinal complications most likely should NOT eat tomatoes frequent, because it can cause more stomach irritation and heart burn to occur more often.**

(Organically Grown Tomato from Rome, Italy)

¤ Reasons for growing your own Tomatoes ¤

    Each person has their specific favourite type of tomato they long for on their sandwich, burger, salad, pasta or pizza. And each breed of tomato has a different price. The higher end of cost are your heirlooms, which have been passed down from generation to generation. So if you are going to grow your own tomatoes, research which type of tomato you like (i.e. beefmaster, roma, cherry). Then research the different breeds of the type you have chosen. There could be the most amazing tomato you ever had out there in seed, waiting for you to give your own "green thumb" a go.

    Tomatoes are one of the easier crops I have grown, they take less time and nurturing than beans or potatoes in my opinion. I use organic manure; steer, cow, pig, horse, or fowl. Dead plant matter with some compost (fruit and veggie scraps, porous soil, and worm casting) and finally some dirt. I prune and clean up, around the base of the plant, about every third or fourth day. My average fully matured tomato plant, about five foot high/one and a half metres, gets about two cups/a pint of water throughout the day.

   Well Friends! You heard what I think about tomatoes and their brilliant qualities. Now it's time to ask yourself if you're going to take a fun risk and try to grow some, or just shop for better quality tomatoes. Whatever you choose, have fun with your food and try to make some of it healthy. Until next time guys....Keep it Green and Keep it Growing! Ciao!! 

HyperSmash

Fall Mini Garden Update

Wow! My garden has been looking beautiful! Everything producing looks so vibrant and amazingly delicious! Look at my Santa Fe Pepper turn red, and more hot compared to the green variety. This would be a nice choice to use in guacamole, it has the right heat without overpowering the avocado and just enough to not make you tear or grab for your closest drink.

As I said, these are the milder version of the Santa Fe Pepper. I use these in my Ramen constantly, or I caramelize them with onions and eat that with sausage. These peppers are extremely easy to grow, all you need is; porous soil, manure, compost, and some care. It is probably the easiest plant I deal with.

The Thai Chili Pepper is a beautiful plant, but is extremely hot! I use gloves when I harvest off the plant or maintain it. I touched my eyes once after dealing with it, and I ended up pouring milk on my eyes and complaining constantly for about an hour straight. I use one chili pepper for salsa, if I used two I'd be screaming.

 My Thyme; completely common, it's found in woods up north of Nevada and other woodland areas. This thyme smells so great and can be used on anything pretty much. It's currently being populated in a new area of the garden so that's why it's not as clustered as before!

My French Pumpkins! These I planted hopefully in time for Christmas! I love pumpkin cookies, cakes, pies, shakes, teas, and bread! All of those things can be made from a fresh pumpkin as well. I get a nice crop and a beautiful plant to stare at until the crop comes. It's a complete win-win scenario. I'll keep you all updated about this specific plant until it's bountiful.

The Bloody Butcher Tomato, which is so-called because once you slice into one the juices flow out more than usual. This tomato is extremely flavourful and awesome in a grilled cheese, I promise you that! It takes about 80 days from flowering to get the full flavour and nutrient value from the fruit, but it's totally worth it. The plants kind of purple due to the fact of a colder climate.

Mexican Sage, how beautiful is that?! Just take a second and gaze at this picture, that's nature friends. Those buds slowly mature and dry into the sage we all use in our recipes. That process takes about 55 days to get really decent sized petals and you can dry them out in your oven on the lowest setting, just keep an eye on it time varies with altitude. Or you can let it dry by itself on the plant, then harvest when needed. So friends, that was fun going through my garden yet again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Until next time, Keep it Green and Keep it Growing! Ciao!!






HyperSmash